Sh280m Kipevu wastewater treatment plant to be ready by October

The Kipevu Wastewater Treatment and Re-pooling Plant in Mombasa is being rehabilitated at Sh280 million.

Water Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuimur said once complete, the project is expected to serve more than 17,000 Kipevu residents.

“The project, which will also serve adjacent areas through exhausters is going well and is expected to be done by October this year,” he said.

Tuimur said the old Kipevu treatment plant, which was constructed in 1980 is unable to serve the increased population.

Speaking in Mombasa over the weekend, the CAS said sanitation has been a big issue, not only in Mombasa but in the entire country.

“We are a bit behind on the issue of sanitation, overall in the country we are at 26 per cent,” he said.

Tuimur said the Water ministry will speed up construction works for the water distribution network in Mombasa to ensure all the projects are completed before October.

He said the ministry had aligned all its programmes to have an element of sanitation as they work towards improving water distribution networks.

“Every programme we are starting now emphasises that it must have a sanitation element. As we produce more water, we also improve on the sanitation programme,” the CAS said.

Tuimur also inspected ongoing water distribution networks along Mombasa North mainland areas of Nyali and Kisauni.

The Kisauni distribution network stretches about 140km and is being constructed at Sh700 million.

The project, expected to be completed by October this year, will serve more than 200,000 people living in the northern mainland of Mombasa.

Tuimur inspected the ongoing works of the 65km distribution network in Nyali being constructed at a cost of Sh516 million.

“The project progress is at 36.54 per cent, we expect it will be done by October. It will serve around 216,577 people,” Tuimur said.

The 18-month contract was awarded to Danaff Kenya Company Limited last year. Construction work started on May 1.

So far Sh198,801,856 has been paid to the contractor.

Tuimur said the country’s water coverage was 65 per cent.

“We would like that to reach 100 per cent before 2030. That is why we are visiting these projects to ensure they are completed on time,” he said.

The CAS said the Water ministry has 685 projects spread across the country ranging from small, medium to large scale.

He said the distribution networks being done were in preparation for when the Sh20 billion Mwache Multipurpose Dam project will be completed.

“We want to be ready for the water that will come from Mwache by ensuring distribution channels are in place,” Tuimur said.

He said the contractor is on site and would begin the work soon.

The construction of the dam, whose contract was signed in 2018, was set to begin on February 15 this year, taking a period of seven years.

The project was delayed for several years as contractor Syno Hydro awaited the government to finalise compensation of land.

Approximately 12,000 people will be displaced by the project which requires 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) of land.

The project is funded by the World Bank through the Kenya Water Security Programme.

 “We had problems with way-leaves and compensation which we have already sorted out, work will begin soon,” Tuimur said.

Edited by A.N